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Background For patients who have an indication for anticoagulation, it is controversial whether dual therapy with an oral anticoagulant and single antiplatelet agent can be used after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or acute coronary syndrome (ACS) instead of triple therapy with an oral anticoagulant and dual antiplatelet therapy.

Participants and methods Twelve observational studies and four clinical trials were identified from three electronic databases from their inception to December, 2017. Pooled estimates were calculated using a random-effects model for meta-analysis.

Conclusion Dual therapy may be a reasonable alternative to triple therapy after PCI in patients with indication for chronic anticoagulation. However, further studies are needed to investigate efficacy of dual therapy, especially in the patients with higher ischemic risk, such as in ACS.

aDepartment of Internal Medicine

bDepartment of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida